


Wanted, Needed

by Lunarium



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Abandonment, Brief mention of cancer, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Near Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2019-02-28 17:24:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13276299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunarium/pseuds/Lunarium
Summary: A Blade mission gone wrong leaves Keith floating in outer space, injured, unable to call for help, and utterly alone.





	Wanted, Needed

**Author's Note:**

> For H/C Bingo. Prompt was "abandonment issues."

It seemed this would be his fate, to die alone with no means of calling out for help and no one to come rescue him. The small ship he had been piloting had been compromised. By the time he had realized a bomb had been planted, the seconds remaining were barely enough time to run away from the bomb, much less enough time to send out a distress call. And now he found himself floating among the debris— _déjà vu_ —in the frigid cold of outer space with his communicators down. The Blade of Marmora garb could provide only so much insulation from the chill, and a limited oxygen supply before he needed to get on board another ship or fleet. 

But the nearest Blade ship was no where in sight, and he could not send out a call. 

Movement didn’t come as easily as the last time this happened. Did he injure a shoulder? 

With an ache, he remembered Red and how she used to come to his aid the few times he had been thrown out into space. Now that she had a new pilot, he could not rely on her appearing. And Team Voltron knew nothing of this mission…

He was completely alone, perhaps lost forever. If the Blade ever came across his body he will have been long gone. 

_In space no one can hear you scream_ , Shiro’s voice echoed from a day long past. He had spoken those words in a mock ominous tone as he held the DVD case to show to Keith. Keith threw back a smirk and they dissolved into chuckles over the absurdity of finding this film in the Galaxy Garrison’s library. 

But now floating up here, with no means to propel himself, no sense of which direction to travel, no means of traveling, no clue of where to find the ship…

 _I’m going to die exactly how I was meant to._

The fear rose steadily, like the low rumble of an oncoming storm, growing till his chest seized and panicked. He breathed deeply to hold back the tears. This was fine. Ever since the first battle against the Galra Empire Keith had been prepared to die in combat. 

_But not like this…not alone…_

His mother had left him when he was very young. He never knew why. When he had reached nine years his father had given him the blade she had left behind as the only gift for him, her only message. The revelation stung him. No letter, no explanation. Just a dumb knife with no other explanation. 

He mastered its use. Maybe it would lead him to her. 

A year later, his father passed away. All the visits to the doctor in the past few months had been for reasons beyond “just a routine check up.” His father had been dying and he didn’t want to tell Keith. Didn’t want to scare him. He was hoping a new drug still in research stage could help him so he wouldn’t have to make new living arrangements for Keith, so he could remain with his son as long as he could. He didn’t mean to break that promise. The drug was released to the market five years later. 

Keith didn’t get the chance to say goodbye. Since then the words _pancreatic cancer_ terrified him with how quickly it could snatch a person away. 

Then there was Shiro, the man for whom Keith’s walls wrapped around, encasing him into his wounded soul. Shiro had promised to never leave him, and he made as good of it as he could. He returned from the impossible, from a prison far across the universe, traumatized and scarred but he returned. Till something took him away. And someone else stepped into his place, pretending to be him. 

Keith had never loved the Paladins as much as he loved Shiro, and he came to regret not spending more time with them. Shiro had been his bridge. The team had been becoming his family, a mismatched dysfunctional family who got one another’s nerves who worked together and wouldn’t let the others down. He needed them, he realized, but maybe they didn’t need him after all. 

He thought of the last time either of them hugged him—the entire team hugged him—and squeezed his eyes shut. 

In the end, did they ever ask after him? How much time had gone with any of them contacting him? 

_You’re being ridiculous_ , a voice in his head said. _We’re at war. They’re busy. You’re busy. As long as you’re not reported killed, they’ll go on happily thinking everything’s fine._

_But what if they forgot about me…_

The debris began to blur before his eyes. The limited oxygen supply was running low. He couldn’t tell, and maybe it was for the best this way. He didn’t ever think he would die like this, but maybe this was appropriate fate for the ones nobody wanted: go out like a tiny faded star in the sky, its light neither noticed nor missed. 

Something tugged on his shoulder, but his vision was fast fading and he couldn’t move to see what it was. He let it take him.

*

When Keith came to, he was bundled up. Several moons glittered high above. He didn’t recognize the planet; it wasn’t one he had visited before. The field was wide-stretched and a faint rumbling of the seashore in the distant met his ears. A campfire was set nearby. 

His savior sat on the other side of the campfire. His emaciated form alarmed Keith; his Paladin suit wrapped around his ribs so tightly that it was hard to hide the wince upon seeing him. His right arm was completely missing from the shoulder. More scars marred his face the last time Keith had seen him, and more strands of hair had gone white. 

Yet the more Keith studied Shiro, his heart thumping in his chest until the tears teemed in his eyes, the more the initial horror melted into warmth. 

“I’ve searched for you for so long,” Keith said. 

Shiro smiled. One half of his face didn’t hold the smile as high as the other; there was an unspoken history there, a story of how his body was further mutilated and underwent more horrors. A story of survival. 

“And now you’ve found me,” Keith finished as he inched closer until he was up against Shiro’s chest. He hesitated, hoping he wasn’t cutting into personal space, but Shiro welcomed him into an embrace. 

“I got you, buddy,” Shiro said in a low voice, his voice scratchy from lack of use. “I hope I wasn’t too late.” 

“You?” Keith’s smile was watery. “Never.”


End file.
